Wednesday, 15 October 2008

we had a great night out at the Powerhouse last night seeing Brisbane band the Doch Gypsy Orchestra in their fifth annual appearance there. Here's a glimpse of them from Youtube, I think from last year, though this must be a different venue, as it seems to be on the verge of turning into a roman orgy and I don't recall that happening anywhere I've been, though the wife of my bosom says that my presence automatically puts a damper on that kind of thing:

There was less hi-jinx in the string section this year, which i noticed because I look out for it. Doch always gets in a roundup of extra musicians for the Powerhouse big-band version of their thing, such as local master of the show-off violin, Shenzo (Shenton Gregory), seen in this clip from last year, or the year before, playing a three minute cadenza:

Here's Shenzo with his own band, the Electric Stunt Orchestra, backing the weather forecast for the TODAY program. Paganini never played the James Bond theme hanging upside down from a concrete flyover

3 Comments:

Doch are a fantastically talented band. My wife and I first heard them when they used to play for one of the resturants at southbank, and we actually went to listen to them quite a few times there (they actually made southbank bearable).

Their double bass player impressed the hell out of me. Everybody else seems to get a break when they focus on one section, like the violins or the guitars, but he just keeps going the whole time at a frenetic pace. There was a lovely number with the double bass and the xylophone seeming to have a conversation of their own as well.